An integrated circuit (IC) die includes a semiconductor substrate and various electronic devices integrated therewith. The electronic devices may generate heat during operation of the IC die. This heat may adversely affect the performance of the IC die, and in some cases may damage one or more of its integrated electronic devices. Conventional systems may determine the temperature of an IC die and control operator warnings, cooling devices, processing clocks and/or other temperature-related elements based on the determined temperature.
Some conventional systems determine an IC die temperature using a diode that is integrated into the die. In particular, these systems may apply two different currents to the diode, measure a voltage drop across the diode corresponding to each of the two currents, and determine the temperature of the diode based on the two currents, the two voltage drops, and the ideal diode equation. Many of these systems do not account for the equivalent series resistance (ESR, or Rs) of the diode and its associated trace, thereby reducing the accuracy of the determined temperature. Some systems attempt to approximate Rs and to incorporate the approximation into the determination of temperature. The approximated Rs may be a fixed value and/or may be calculated based on a predetermined temperature vs. trace resistivity curve.